[nabs-l] NlS Seems we lost an ally

Wed Jan 4 02:56:46 UTC 2012

Chris,
While nls does not do texts and probably will never do it, after all it’s a 
government entity, they do offer classics and novels. So when my class read 
such a book, I might use them. For instance classics like The good earth, to 
kill a mockingbird, A separate peace and the great gadsby.
So NLS has been helpful in my academic pursuits sometimes, like for english 
and history.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Chris Nusbaum
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2012 9:13 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally

I think it makes it that much easier to understand, although some
RFBD readers are very monitone and sometimes stumble over words,
but you get what you get with volunteers.  I really like how
their narrators describe pictures in the textbook to the reader.
A lot of Braille transcribers would never describe the picture
and just omit it from the Braille version, which annoyed me
sometimes, especially in science textbooks.  I really wish NLS
did textbooks, but I don't think they'll get into the textbook
business any time soon.  Well, do
they do textbooks?
Chris

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The
real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that
exists.  If a blind person has the proper training and
opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a mere physical
nuisance."
-- Kenneth Jernigan

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ashley Bramlett" <bookwormahb at earthlink.net
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 3 Jan 2012 21:00:21 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally

I agree.  I use learning ally for that reason.  I want a human
reading a
textbook to me.

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Nusbaum
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2012 6:48 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally

I personally don't want to have the synthesized voice on the
Stream read a book to me, especially a novel or textbook, and
would go the RFBD route whenever possible.

Chris

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The
real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that
exists.  If a blind person has the proper training and
opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a mere physical
nuisance."
-- Kenneth Jernigan

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nicole B.  Torcolini at Home" <ntorcolini at wavecable.com
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 2 Jan 2012 20:10:14 -0800
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally

You don't have to have a book.  It also plays MP3 files and reads
TXT files.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joshua Lester" <jlester8462 at students.pccua.edu
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Sent: Monday, January 02, 2012 6:45 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally

I was shwon one, at convention, 2 years ago.
I have one, but I'm not sure about working it.
I don't have any books for it, now.
I'll save your address, and E-mail you when I get a book.
Blessings, Joshua

On 1/2/12, Patrick Molloy <ptrck.molloy at gmail.com> wrote:
Joshua,
E-mail me off list and I can help you figure out the Stream.
It's
really quite simple.
Patrick

On 1/2/12, Joshua Lester <jlester8462 at students.pccua.edu> wrote:
Wow!
I still use the CD player for my classes.
I hate the Victor Stream, because I can't figure it out!
Blessings, Joshua

On 1/2/12, Ashley Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:
Antonio,
What are the problems? Do you use jaws? I've tried to figure out
the
download; it took me a while to learn the old way, and now they
changed
it.
I'm not the most patient with technology, keep in mind.  If you
have a
cd
player, you still can order daisy cds, but now that humanware no
longer
offers the little daisy players; vr wave, vr vibe and vr
classic,  more
probably will download.  I still have my old vr wave and
thankfully it
works!
Since as you said downloading is not friendly and a Daisy cd
player is
IMO
easy to use and simple.

Humanware recently released a new victor reader player, vr
strattus,
which
both plays those daisy cds and downloadable books from many
places like
nls
and learning ally.

I encourage you to write learning ally.  Many are disappointed.
With
changing
their name, it seems they changed their mission to focus on
learning
disabilities without identifying them as disabled, for
politically
correct
purposes.  Tell them to still include blind people and that
blind people
have
depended on them for over 30 years since they started.  Don't
let them
forget
us and be specific as to your accessibility challenges.  Stating
something
is
not accessible won't help.

Also IMo, their site is more hard to navigate.  More images and
complex
organization.  Like no longer can you see the book catalog from
the main
page
and when you search books you cannot read the edition/publisher
anymore
without clicking on something extra.  So I see like ten books
with the
same
or similar name and it takes longer to figure out what to pick.
frustrated,
Ashley

-----Original Message-----
From: Antonio Guimaraes
Sent: Monday, January 02, 2012 8:35 PM
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally

Dear NABS members,

It is more than obvious to me that the new Learning Ally
download
features fall short of offering blind screen reader users the
services
we've come to know in previous years.

Today I experienced at least an hour of frustrations trying to
use
their
new and improved program for downloads.  I have listened to
their You
Tube video explaining the process, and then reached out to
people like
you for some feedback.

There are several reports that blind readers can not use
Learning
Ally's
download features.

I am not a happy scholar.  I am writing to find out if you too
have come
up against issues with the download service.

The NABS division and its membership should not accept lack of
access
from an organization that has long been at the forefront in
providing
access to recorded texts for blind users.

Your experience will only help confirm some of the reported
issues, and
hopefully result in rectifying what must certainly be an
oversight on
Learning Ally's part.

Sincerely,

Antonio Guimaraes

_______________________________________________
nabs-l mailing list
nabs-l at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
info for
nabs-l:

http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/bookwormahb%4
0earthlink.net

_______________________________________________
nabs-l mailing list
nabs-l at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
info for
nabs-l:

http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/jlester8462%4
0students.pccua.edu

_______________________________________________
nabs-l mailing list
nabs-l at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
info for
nabs-l:

http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/ptrck.molloy%
40gmail.com

_______________________________________________
nabs-l mailing list
nabs-l at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
info for
nabs-l:

http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/jlester8462%4
0students.pccua.edu

_______________________________________________
nabs-l mailing list
nabs-l at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
info for
nabs-l:

http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/ntorcolini%40
wavecable.com

_______________________________________________
nabs-l mailing list
nabs-l at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
for nabs-l:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/dotkid.nusbau
m%40gmail.com

_______________________________________________
nabs-l mailing list
nabs-l at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
for
nabs-l:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/bookwormahb%4
0earthlink.net

_______________________________________________
nabs-l mailing list
nabs-l at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
for nabs-l:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/dotkid.nusbau
m%40gmail.com

_______________________________________________
nabs-l mailing list
nabs-l at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
nabs-l:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/bookwormahb%40earthlink.net 